Love Story
by Humida
Summary: Kaede has been exhiled form his homeworld into the claymore universe during the time of teresa of the faint smile. His story as he comes into contact with her and young clare.
1. Unknown Being

LOVE STORY

chp 1- Into the Unknown

He walks with the crunch of stone beneath his boots. The sun beats down on his back, warming his flesh. But it is not the same as he remembers it. The moisture in the air feeds his veins seeping into his pores, giving him energy and it all feels very cool comparatively.

Kaede turns his head to the horizon, glancing at the rising sun, looking past it. In another place, in another time not many days gone he had watched a similar sun coming up over the steaming landscape of the deserts. A place that had burned his flesh and each week had been a struggle for survival. But it had been home. Now, after so many who could not and would not take him for a partner he had been sent to this world as if he were a rogue. He probably was one.

The towns here seemed so dull. Plane and stagnant. Decaying. All the humans here seemed to be struggling for food and survival, with gaunt faces and sunken cheeks, their backs humped over. And all of them weak. Women as much as the men. What more, they all stared at him as if he were an alien.

True, his clothes were not typical of those here. Layered in thick overlaying cloths of blue and black, with thick black gloves and boots that gave and impression of armor. And his face seemed different, incredibly pale with the shining black hair parted in the center and the length of it in the back wrapped in a ponytail. But that was probably not what marked him so much. Not even the pack on his back but what he carried at his side. A sword, a katana. He could hear them whisper about it even now.

"What kind of weapon do you think that is?"

"I don't know. I've never seen a sword like it. Think he's from the organization?"

"You mean like them silver eyed witches?"

Organization? Silver eyed witches? Was he getting branded with the riffraff of the region already? He laughs silently. _Perhaps then I'll find someone worthy of my blood. All here are weak._

The high pitched scream of a woman alerts him, alarming all the villagers. He stays his ground, watching. A woman in one of those low cut dresses with the full length of the gown nearly tripping her up comes running out of an alley screaming at the top of her lungs. Her hair in disarray, and tears stream down her face.

"They killed another one!" she screams. "A yoma! A yoma is in the village!"

Her screams are hysterical. Her sentences, barely complete. Her heart rate is rapid and her breathing comes out in gasp. He nears her, stepping in between members of the shocked crowd. He stares down at the woman who has fallen to the floor, huddled in on herself crying loudly, her wails assaulting his ears. _How disgusting_, he thinks.

He shuts his eyes and remembers his mother's face. A tall woman of strong build, with a brilliant pink hair contrasting against the stark color of the environment. He remembers when she'd pulled out her fist from a gasping sink worm. A worm ten times the size of a human who hunted by erupting from beneath the sands. She had wrestled the giant beast, he doesn't remember how. He'd been too young. But it had fallen and she had stood atop it, victorious. Out of breath she had sat down on its dying form motioning to him. He had come with trepidation, fearing the twitching creature beneath her. When he'd gotten close enough to her he'd leapt onto her legs. She had laughed then and told him something very important.

"A woman who falls to her feet begging for the help of others with no power of her own is either a fool or a coward. Never let yourself associate with such. They are beneath you. Only seek out and stay with the strong."

Even now that instruction had been given him before departure into this realm. But all he had seen disgusted him. Men stronger then women, and not by a terrible degree. And the women would allow themselves to be pushed by such. Disgusting.

"Why do you just stand there?" someone screams below him. He wakes staring at the woman. He must have been scowling at her. She grabs the garments at his legs pulling them to force him to look at her. "Please," she begs. "You have to do something!"

"Get off," he growls. She lets go, shock filling her eyes instead of the tears now. Better. "And what did you do? Have you found the killer? Are they dead? Or do you just cower there like a mewling babe waiting for supper? You disgust me."

"She's just a girl!" someone screams. "Not a claymore!"

"What do you expect her to do? Cut off the monster's head?"

He turns towards the voice giving them a stony glare and answers coldly, "yes."

The townspeople stare in shock. They are silent, their tongues glued to the roofs of their mouths. None had addressed them in such a manner before.

"And you could do better?" someone breaks in. "A yoma killed my wife not two days ago! You could do better?"

This call is taken up by others. He slumps his shoulders and sighs. "Yeah. Whatever. Why not?"

They continue their taunts and jeers, one man picking up a stone from the floor. "Get out you stinkin' hate monger! We don't need your kind here!"

And with this the stone is hurled at Kaede's face. He catches it with depth fingers letting his hand fall to his side and the stone fall from his grip. "Your monster must barely be stronger then you," he growls. "I smell no one of great power here. Just..."

There was something off from one of them. A smell that is reptilian like. Unusual among so many mammals. But he doesn't know the customs here. It may be natural. Still...

He crushes the stone beneath his boot. Turning away from them he looks towards the girl again. "Show me your monster."

"But I..." she stammers.

He leans his head back looking towards the heavens with a sigh. "I mean show me the last kill. I'll pick it up from there."

She kneels down clutching his pant leg. "Thank you," she weeps. "Thank you. You'll help us then? You'll.."

"I want the yoma's flesh for my own crockpot."

The woman stands staring incredulously. "What?"

"I want the meat of this demon," he says without concern. The woman stares back as if he's gone mad. "And some knives to cut it with and some spices to go along with it."

"What are you talking about?" she says, anger and frustration filling her voice. "You sound like you're going to eat it."

"I am. Now show me the last kill."

She stares as if looking through him. Not moving, not seeing. Just there. He nods towards her. "Well?"

She turns away, walking as if dead. He sighs once more and follows. Murmuring follows in suit as others follow him and become more incessant as they near the kill zone and it becomes obvious where the body lies. He stops several feet away. The smell is repugnant. He's been there a day already. Somehow they had missed it for a whole day. He can see the belly torn open, the stomach cleaned away, the lower jaw missing. Probably the reason the man hadn't screamed as he died. Flies buzzed around the flesh, setting their offspring on the rotting corpse.

Kaede turns away from the corpse.

"So you want me to kill this demon, I assume?"

"If you can," an old man intones. "We'll pay you..."

"I don't need pay. Just the knives and spices will do. And it's flesh."

"Fine. Fine. If you can.."

"What the hell are talking about?!" another screams cutting the old man off. He points at Kaede. "This guy is nuts! He can't kill a yoma! He's not a claymore! He's..."

"You should talk," Kaede whispers. "When you're standing next to the yoma."

The man stands shocked, his eyes widening. He turns towards the man next to him who looks at him in surprise.

"What?" the man in question asks. "What is it? I'm not a yoma! He's crazy!" he screams pointing at Kaede.

That's when he realizes Kaede has already moved forward. The blade unsheathed with his leap, rushing towards and past the yoma thing. The blade goes through flesh and bone in one fluid arc.

"Sorry," Kaede whispers. "But your scent is all over that body, and no one else's is. Figures you'd be the yoma, the only one who smells like a lizard."

The upper half of the man's head falls away, his eyes still bulging from surprise. And slowly, the skin changes, hardening and darkening in color. The eyes coloring a sickly yellow, it's hair paling a dull white. Kaede turns his attention away from the creature turning towards the crowd.

"Well? My knives and spices?"

The old man nods. "Of course, but first, what are you?"

He is silent for a moment, then he whispers his answer. "A hunter of hunters. Kaede Urkida. I seek the strongest... to marry her."

******

Elsewhere a cloaked figure waits at the forest outskirts clothed in dark robes. He waits as a tall woman dressed in white with flowing blonde hair comes into view. She smiles faintly and turns towards him.

"How did it go?" he ask already knowing the answer.

"We've run into a situation it seems. Someone else is killing yoma almost free of charge. Even took the body. Most of it anyways."

"I know. This is most worrisome. You will need to find out who this is after your next assignment."

He hands her the card with the information. "I trust there will be no problems then?"

She nods and turns away walking away from him in the direction of the next town.

******

He heads deep into the forest, the moon shadowing his movements. Kaede turns towards it, thinking silently. The steps coming towards him are not muffled. Many crunching leaves and twigs, but he has no fear of it. They are still weak, even on their mounts. And the noise gives him comfort. Not quite the noise of the living forest from home, but something.

When the young man not much older then he appears on horseback appears, he draws out his sword pointing it at Kaede. His piercing glow in the moonlight, illuminating the ugliness of his face.

"Looks like you stumbled into the wrong area of the woods, kid" he sneers.

Kaede looks up at him, smiling softly. "Sure. Whatever. I have time to kill." And he smiles softly at his enemy.


	2. The Shadow With Sapphire Eyes

The Shadow with Sapphire Eyes

The night sent a chill down her spine, but it had nothing to do with the cold air. She held the child's hand, not wanting her near but somehow feeling protective. And though this was an uncommon emotion for Teresa of the faint smile she could not help but feel this way now.

As the young girl child had followed her into the woods she had stumbled upon a dead body. A man with his head twisted backwards, blood leaking still warm from his lips. His eyes stared at the both of them as if pleading for eternal rest. Something was out here. A yoma? She couldn't tell.

As they proceeded deeper into the woods she would hear the distant sounds of fighting and yelling. Blades clashing for a second, cries and screams and then all would fall deftly silent. That bothered her, blades crashing against one another, but yoma would also pick them up, still. There was no sense of him. No yoki or anything. Was there more then one? Was it ... an awakened one? What?

And they weren't killing rapidly. She'd hear the cries of men yelling to one another as death cries were heard. _Battle? Two brigands meeting one another? _She asked herself this but had no answer. But one side was definitely winning against the other.

The galloping of a horse nearby, crashing through the brush heading straight towards her bothered her. Before she could decide what to do a light was blaring from a torch in her direction.

"Over here!" one man yells and rushes her, crashing his blade against her own. She brushes the attack aside and kicks the man back as another leaps from the woods with his blade over his head. Teresa pulls the girl aside letting the man land on the floor with the blade sinking into soft earth. As he gets up she kicks him in the stomach, pushing him back.

"What is wrong with you!?" she yells. "Are you insane?"

The two men stand, staring groggily. Their eyes grow wide and they turn towards one another then back to her with angry scowls.

"That's not him."

"Him?" she asks.

"Yes, him," a voice responds from above her as a blade is pressed against her throat.

She turns to stare into the dark eyes of a man with long reddish hair and sharp face. His eyebrows and ears are lined with many pierces.

"We're looking for a guy with black hair tied in a pony tail. Has blue clothes and a pack and a strange sword at his side. You seen anyone like him around here?" he says while lifting her chin with the blade's edge.

"No," she answers coldly.

The man laughs, smiling with sharp teeth. "You're one of those witches, aren't you? A claymore." He leans close to her, his foul breath on her ear. "Maybe you can help us out here."

She turns towards him and snarls, "I don't kill humans. It's against our law."

He draws his blade away pointing it at the young girl who clings to Teresa's leg. "Well maybe we can convince you. If you kill the guy we won't hurt the girl and we'll say we never saw you kill a human and just leave. But if you don't help us.." with this he licks his lips. "We can always kill the girl and say a claymore did it."

Teresa glares at him. "Don't try me human."

He leans back laughing. "Ha! Ha! Did you hear that boys? A claymore threatened me!"

The others nod in mockery of her. He turns towards her raising his blade once more. This is when something crashes from the tree above her, slamming into the man's face. The shadow comes quickly, taking advantage of the man unbalanced on his horse. With the blade gleaming the shadow strikes, tearing through the leather casing of the pack and crunching through the flesh and bone of the man's face as his weight drops the man to the floor. The horse whinnies in agitation and leaps away, dashing into the underbrush.

Teresa watches, staring at the shadow as his blade twist in the flesh and bone, grating against the edges and crunching. The young girl clutches tightly at Teresa's side, gasping quietly. Teresa watches, sees as the blade is withdrawn in one swift motion from the twitching body, blood spraying softly into the night air. The shadow turns towards her slowly, his face covered in blacks, only the color of his eyes illuminated. A bright sapphire in coloration.

"He got the boss!" one of the men yells. "Get him!"

The two men rush and the shadow turns to confront them. With blades held above their heads they run at him and the nearest loses his hands in a fluid arc, the blade crashing to the floor with hands still holding on. Staring in shock the man has no time to scream as the shadow's blade is plunged deep into his throat.

The girl at her side screams loudly. Teresa watches distractedly now. Hearing the bone crunch as the blade is twisted out of the man's throat and torn away, blocking the incoming attack of the other in one sweep. With the girl pulling at her, she has no time to watch.

She bends down and picks the girl up, lifting her into her arms and leaps away into the darkness. Leaping from tree to tree away from the shadow. She can hear the girl sobbing against her chest, feel the warm tears on her body and the thumping of her heart racing in her form. _What_ _was that? What was that? There was no yoki! Nothing at all! Why didn't I detect him? Why? What is he?_

As she leaps through the trees she knows one thing for certain. That man isn't from the organization.

******

He hadn't needed to jump in like that. The woman was strong. Stronger then he. That he knew. The blood flowing through her, like nothing he had yet seen here! Comparable to his mother's power, beyond him. Like none here.

Something grips Kaede's leg. He looks down, staring into the face of the sweaty man with his pained expression, trying to withdraw a blade from pocket. His bowels are split open for the earth to touch, the wound running up to his chest. He won't survive even if Kaede left him now. He withdraws the sword quickly and plunges it into the man's skull. There is the crunch of flesh, the body arching with the attack and then its flop as the blade is withdrawn.

He turns towards the direction of the woman. She was not only strong, but considerate. She had taken the girl with her, to protect her then? And her body... her face. She was beautiful. Her colors were a pale light in the darkness, like the shining of the moon. The radiance of her long blonde hair that fell in waves, her silver eyes and dressed in white from head to toe. She most resembled an angel in his eyes. The thought of her made his heart ache.

But he had to be careful this time. He shuts his eyes considering, breathing softly. In his own world he had been rejected under multiple occasions because of his need to consume extra water which could not support the needed for a regular being. He had learned to conserve but always he had needed to journey to forest of Samatra near his desert home to regenerate. The woods there were frightening. Constantly in movement, humming with their voices and running their branches over one another, trailing other limbs over the floor looking for more food. They would moan, howl and yawn in the wind with their cacophony of sounds. Here, everything was silent. The living trees still except for the wind blowing through their leaves. And water was abundant in the moisture of the air. So the concern of the women in his world was not one here. But he had been told they were harsher here, not as accepting. That the male trailed after the woman and sought her, wooed her instead of the other way around. He sighs. "Fine. I'll.."

There is a rustling of the woods behind him. Since trees here do not move he knows only one thing it can be. His blade flashes as the stranger comes into range out of the brush. His eyes shine brightly with the brilliance of the blade just before it strikes taking off the upper half of the man's cranium. A gentle spray of blood and the body falls back without sound.

Normally he would not kill like this. But it felt more like war here then hunting. One alone could not abide by the law kill only what can be consumed. Still.. he'd try and stick as close to the law as he could. He withdraws his blade and leans down over the fat one carving into his flesh. He had lost his stores of yoma when the brigand had attacked and now he needed to replenish his reserves, something to take while walking the trail. He'd need something to snack on. That woman, he got the impression she was a mover, always moving from place to place, never staying in any one area for long. He would need something he already carried to keep her pace.

When he is done collecting what he can he picks up his pack and turns towards the direction of the woman. Her scent was still in the air. Similar to the yoma, something reptilian, but smelling strongly of a human as well. He sucks in the air, letting it filter through his nostrils, feeling what makes her individual.

Slowly his eyes open and he turns eastward leaping into the trees from that direction. As a shadow he moves from tree to tree heading in the direction of the white woman.


	3. Strange Man Child

Strange Man Child

Teresa watches the lake below them, watching with some agitation. The man she had seen the night before, if he could be called that, seemed quite cold. A skilled and formidable opponent to say the least. And when he had turned to stare at her, the cold steel in his eyes, he had seemed more yoma then human.

She shuts her eyes and smiles. _What's to say he's not a yoma? And if he is then I can dispose of him easily enough. But if he isn't..._

But that was the concern wasn't it? What if he wasn't a yoma? What then? She couldn't legally kill a human under the rules the organization had given her. Any claymore caught killing a human was sentenced to death, and what that bandit on the horse had said, "If you help us kill this guy, no one here will ever say you killed a human." That concerned her, it seemed to verify the man's identity as a human. A very blood thirsty and skilled human.

And the weapon he held, a strange thin blade. She hadn't thought one like that could be used so effectively, but what she had seen the night before proved otherwise. That blade cut through bone and flesh as easily as any claymore or broadsword. _Just goes to show things can't be judged by their looks, _she thinks.

The glimmer off something in the water below brings her back to attention. When she opens her eyes there on the water is the man with sapphire eyes staring back at her, on top of the water! Standing motionless on its surface. The water sunk several feet to the floor at this level but he was standing on it as if it were dry land. _How is that-?_ And then he was gone. A movement so fast she wasn't sure she actually registered it.

She rubs her forehead pushing the migraine surfacing back in her skull. She was just hallucinating, that was all. No human was as fast as her, and none could stand on water like it were dry land. That was certain.

She leans back against the stone wall staring at the noon day sun, feeling its rays on her face. Its warmth running its fingers down her body. No. The image was an illusion of the shock she had obtained yesterday. Shock of someone other then a claymore being so strong, if it was human. She rubs her forehead again. Why couldn't things be simple?

She turns towards the girl who sleeps soundly next to her. And now because of the man, this girl with long hair and a thin, frail body had come under her custody. Great. But she couldn't leave the girl among the bandits and that man...

She sighs. Nothing was simple. Nothing.

She looks back towards the basin of water. Nothing there this time. It was her imagination. He wouldn't be able to catch up to them from their range from the night before anyhow. It was too much to do for a normal man. Only a claymore or yoma or an awakened perhaps could match the speed. No. He wouldn't be able to. Not and be human.

She had placed the two of them on this position on the rock face of a cliff so she would be above any danger, able to see its approach with the water between them, and the height of the cliff for added effect. And at its center none could come within range without her notice. They were safe, from humans as well as those who were yoma touched. None could get here with any ease and not be detected. None.

The girl at her side stirs. Ah, what was she to do with her? Maybe drop her off at the next village? Perhaps. She couldn't be a mother after all. But who would take the child in? Sigh. Nothing was ever simple.

As the child begins to sit up, she wipes her eyes and her mouth drops. She pulls at Teresa's sleeve, pointing at something, yelling in her inarticulate way.

_What? But how?_

Teresa turns and standing next to her, looking down at her with his arms crossed and those same sapphire eyes is the man from the night before. With the sun at his back the shadows play violently on his features making him look harsher then before.

She moves back looking towards the man, drawing out her blade. _He isn't human._ No one could sneak up on her and not be detected! But he wasn't a yoma either. What was he?

"You," he whispers in a hard voice. She tenses, gripping the blade hard. What should she do? Should she.. kill him? But if he was human...

"You," he says again. "You are the one I judge strongest."

She grits her teeth tensing more. If he was human she couldn't kill him, but if he wasn't then... what? She hadn't even detected him. She wouldn't be able to drop her guard, and she still had the girl with her. What should she-?

That's when the man does something strange. It shocks her more then if he had suddenly turned into a yoma or rushed her. He bends his legs slowly and places his fist against the floor bowing his head to her.

"What are you-?"

"I pledge my allegiance and services to you, my lady," the man whispers in a far softer voice. Raising his head slightly, he stares with hard eyes, but with a waver in them. A tinge of worry. "I give my life unto you. Do with it as you may."

She stares as if staring beyond him. It didn't make sense. She must still be dreaming. But the sword was still held roughly in her hands, and there was still the girl clinging to her other arm, pressing her warm little body and staring at the man with fear. At the man who had just pledged himself to her, who knelt before her with his head down on the floor. A man who had managed to sneak up on her, who had killed several the night before.

"What are you?" she asks.

He looks up at her with wide eyes trembling. "What?"

She places her blade under his chin, regaining control over her composure. At least, outwardly.

"What are you?" she asks again.

He looks away from her, his mouth a thin line.

"I don't really know what to say," he responds. "I am me. Just me."

"No. No." she says moving the blade away. "I mean "what" are you?"

"Human, like you."

"What?" she smiles at this. "No. You have that wrong," she says and presses the blade against his throat once more. "I'm not human. Which means neither are you."

He stares wide eyed, then turns his eyes away again. _He's agitated. He doesn't know how to respond._

He turns towards her again, staring straight and hard. "Then tell me what I am," he says. "Because if I am not human then I do not know what I am."

"Wait. What?"

"I am human," he says in a harsh voice.

She grits her teeth, staring at him. "No. You're just trying to confuse me. Tell me what you are!" This comes out in a scream, her own frustration taking her over. The man is silent for a moment, then shutting his eyes, he answers.

"My lady. If you do not believe me, then my life is yours for the taking."

She lifts her blade waiting for his attack. But it does not come. She waits more time, but he does not move. She lowers her blade, turning away.

"Leave me. I have no interest in you."

She picks up the girl and turns to leave when she hears him answer in a hard voice.

"No. I will not."

"What?"

She turns her head, staring at him.

"No. I won't leave."

"Look. I don't know who you are, but I can't have you following me. We claymores don't mix well with others."

"You're carrying a kid," he says without hesitation.

Teresa turns towards the child who clings close, pressing her face against Teresa's side. She turns away from her and answers, coldly. "It's temporary."

"Mine isn't."

She stares at him for a moment, both facing off against each other. He stands with arms crossed staring with that hard face.

"Look. Don't follow me," she snarls and leaps away.

"I can't," he whispers. "There's nothing else left to me."

As she leaps from tree to tree she hears something following behind her. And nearly trips over the next branch as she sees what is following. The man, he is following behind her as effortlessly as if he were a claymore himself. He follows with a somber look in his eyes, chasing after her close behind, almost without sound.

When she stops on a branch, he stops on the branch of another tree, away from her.

"I thought I told you to leave!" she growls.

"And I told you, I can't do that."

"Why?" she snarls. "Why not? Do you have some kind of death wish or something? Don't you know what I do for a living?"

He leaps forward landing next to her on her branch. She turns with shock but he does not move to face her. His response is quiet and solemn.

"No. I just have nothing else." He turns towards her, his eyes hard and tense. "I was abandoned by my kind on this island. To survive I must unite with the strongest."

_Unite with the strongest? What is he talking about? _

She laughs with a sneer. "Does this have something to do with the men you killed yesterday? Were they the ones who "abandoned" you?"

"No." He turns away from her sinking into silence.

"Look, you can't be following me, whatever you are."

"Whatever I am," he whispers softly, smiling menacingly. "I am the same as you, but different. You and I, we are the same."

"No. We're not," and with this she leaps away with the girl in her grip. She growls softly hearing the soft thumps from the branches as the man follows, going even faster to match her speed. She sees him leaping next to her from branches of the trees next to the ones she uses. She turns away, watching the forest pass by.

"You know, you can't keep up with me forever," she says with a smile. "I'm a claymore. We don't need to rest like normal people." _At least I hope he can't keep up forever_, she thinks, her smile turning into a frown.

His step falters and she turns her head, watching as he forces himself to use more energy to catch up. She smiles and turns away. "I told you we're not the same. You need to sleep, don't you?"

He is silent for a time, when he answers it is with caution. "Yes. And eat, and use my necessities as well. I assume these don't bother you as often?"

"No." _At last, something to break this silly game off. _

"It doesn't matter, you can go on ahead at those times. I'll catch up with you later."

Her eyes widen, her own step faltering this time. He slows down to match her missed step.

"You understand I don't want you following me, right?" she snarls.

"And you understand I have nothing else, don't you?" He says these words with a heavy sigh, as if he is completely serious. That there is nothing for him but follow a claymore to his death. _He can't be serious! That's insane! But.._

She watches him for a time, his tread as he follows softly next to her. No human could keep up with her, and being such he probably can't associate well with a human. Meaning... She shuts her eyes, sighing. Meaning his closest association would be to a claymore. She swears inwardly. The young girl looks up at her with trepidation, still holding tightly to her waist.

"Fine," she whispers. "But it's your funeral."

The young man smiles. _He can't be older then seventeen_, she thinks. _Like a child needing its mother. A young man child. Ah, what have I gotten myself into?_

"So," he says bringing her out of her reverie. "What is your name?"

"Teresa. Teresa of the faint smile. Yours?"

"Kaede. Kaede Yukimara of the nation of sand."

"Nation of sand?"

He laughs sadly at this. "Yes."

"Why'd they kick you out?"

His head droops quietly and this time it is Teresa who slows her pace. The young child also watches him from the corner of her vision. The young man, Kaede, lifts his head slowly, staring into the setting sun with a soft glare, tears blurring his eyes.

"I was a burden. My genetic disposition towards water makes it difficult for me to live in desert climes. So they sent me here, to a place full of water based lands with few deserts in between."

He turns towards her, smiling darkly this time. "But don't think that I can't follow you through a desert. I lived in a desert for almost seventeen years. I know how to survive there for a relative time."

She sighs. She had been considering it. But if he came from a desert then it really didn't make sense that he couldn't survive in one, at least for awhile. And she didn't want to run away to one just to get away from him. Besides, the organization would come looking for her if she did. Everything was always complicated.

"Something troubling your mind?" he asks.

"No," she whispers. "Just thinking on how life is complicated."

"Hmph. If it were easy, I'd still be home."

_Yes_, she thinks. _So would I. So would I._

******

The old one kicks the body, looking it over. Several of these bandits had similar marks. Slash wounds from a blade, but only this one had marks of flesh being removed. Clean marks made by a blade. Teresa had been through this area, but it seemed she had missed whatever had done this, or ignored it. Troubling.

What had done this was very similar to a claymore, perhaps was a claymore, but unawakened. Or was it actually awakened and hiding its true form? Whatever the case, it had killed and taken meat. Human meat.

He turns towards one of the young men under his steward. "Sir?" the young man asks.

"Assemble a team for an awakened hunt. There seems to be an awakened being in the area needing disposing of."

"Yes, sir," the man says, bowing rapidly and turning away. The old one turns away from the youth, looking instead towards the setting sun. Whatever this creature was, wether rogue claymore or an awakened being, it would be dealt with and soon. Of this he was certain.


	4. Memories

Memories

They move with silence through the woods, not speaking. Leaping from tree to tree. Kaede watches her, Teresa of the faint smile, and the child who was with them. No. That was not the correct term. The child with Teresa. Teresa had accepted him on her journey because he had left her no choice if she wasn't to kill him.

He looks away for a moment, then looks back towards the girl. She was asleep in Teresa's arms, seeming content to remain in her position. He smiles. Something like a mother with child. Though he can remember little he remembers times of horror when his mother carried him like that, through the desert. The monsters or bandits that would pop up, but at the same time it was... _peaceful_. This is the thought that enters his head. Despite everything, being in her grasp, held by her, it was peaceful, as if nothing would ever go wrong with mother there. _But it did go wrong didn't it? My blood..._

He stares at his shaking hand, growling. His blood. Tainted blood of the shores. For one of the desert to be tainted with the blood of a hydrolist. Of one who can control and needs the constant touch of water itself. For one of the desert this is the same as a sentence to death. True. He had not died. But being expelled from home, not worthy of any of the clanswomen of the desert, it was the same thing as death.

"Kaede, look out!" Teresa screams.

He wakens from his day dreaming to find himself heading straight for a thick tree trunk_. So wrapped up in my own head I didn't see it_, he curses silently. _Damn!_

He turns midway in leap, clearing the trunk but tripping on another branch growing from the tree's body. He falls forward, turning to grab another branch and slams onto another thickened branch on his way down. The wind is taken out of him and the last thing he sees is green blades of grass rushing up to meet him.

He wakens in the dark, the moon shining brightly over his head and something warm at his right. He turns over and is surprised to find the girl sleeping against his shoulder. He wishes to move now, but how can he? With her there?

"You took quite a hit there," he hears Teresa's soft timber voice whisper. He turns towards her, a low burning fire illuminating her from beneath like a dark goddess. He grunts and lays back down.

"I take it that isn't common for you, to fall like that?"

"No," he says silently looking up into the moonlit night. The moon shines full and bloated, a symbol of his tainted soul. The tainted blood that flows through him. He moves to readjust himself and the girl at his side moans.

He stares at her for some time. Her soft eyes fluttering with that small mouth sighing softly. The scent of her hair like mildew on a warm day.

"She's taken a liking to you, you know," Teresa remarks.

He turns away, letting himself fall back on the hard ground. The girl readjust her position placing herself almost on top of him now. He raises his arms, staring with some irritation, and lets them fall away. _Great. This isn't going to be the most comfortable of nights._

"Kaede," he hears a voice whisper. One that is softer but of higher pitch then Teresa's. He lifts his head and stares into the girl's shining eyes. A dazzling type of hazel, soft and vibrant. She smiles and shuts her eyes once more.

He rests his palm on her head, and finds the child nuzzling it, adjusting to the position. He smiles and lays his head down.

"So what was it that made you fall?" he hears Teresa asks.

He turns his head to look at her. She stokes the fire, moving the charred timbers within with a long bent reed. She looks at him with a dark smile. Her eyes do not share the same warmth, there is a hardness to them. Something familiar.

He turns away from her stare, looking once more at the bloated moon.

"They're just memories. Painful memories that don't go away. That's all."

"Hmph. Do tell."

"Can I ask you something?"

She is silent for a moment, considering. Then placing the reed on the floor she leans back against the rock wall and smiles.

"I suppose. What is it?"

"You could have left me back there, why didn't you?"

"You said you'd track me even if I did, didn't you?"

"Yes, but you'd have a lead now. So why didn't you?"

She is silent for a time, letting time linger between them. When she answers it's with a far away voice.

"I told you, that girl took a liking to you, and I couldn't leave her behind with you. There's something ... not quite right about you."

"You say you're human but then you say you're like me. And what you said before you stumbled... tainted blood. What was that about?"

He growls silently, staring at the moon with anger. He raises his palm, opening it, seeing the trails of water, the flow of the blood itself. And crushes his hand into a fist, the blood in it churning even faster.

"My blood... for one of the desert to be linked to water marks me as one tainted, fated to die."

"What do you mean, your link to water? What is that about? Are you some kind of water sprite or something?"

"No. I'm human. But my blood... it's what kept me from being a proper candidate for the clan's women." He feels the tears running down his cheeks. "It keeps me from being with my people." He turns towards Teresa, grinning darkly.

"Thus, my blood is tainted." He turns away, looking back towards the moon. "I feel like a demon, and heaven is so very far ... far away."

He turns his open palm as if reaching to the moon, grasping it, but grasping nothing but the wind in his palm.

"Heaven is overrated."

"What?" he asks, turning to face her.

"Nothing. Just get some sleep."

She stands, and walks into the woods. He turns back to the moon, staring at it with an inner bitterness. Before she had turned away he had seen something in her eyes, a sadness. Something had happened to her in her own past, something painful. But she seemed unwilling to share.

He chuckles softly. _It seems she and I have more in common then I would have originally thought._


	5. Clare's Choice

Clare's Choice

The wind blew against her hair, the rock now itching against her back. Teresa scratches at the back of her head, tapping her foot on the floor impatiently. They had been gone awhile now. Kaede and the little girl. Disappeared when she had been sleeping of all things!

Irritating. That was all she could think. Irritating. And how did he do that? Disappear on her without her notice? They had been resting in a small clearing at the base of a hill that led into the deeper parts of the forest. And he had managed to disappear even with her acute abilities.

Perhaps she should take this as a sign and leave. She hadn't intended to keep the girl around anyways, and now the boy had disappeared too. Maybe it was for the best. Yes. It was for the better. She nods to herself and prepares to leap off when a shout brings her to attention.

"You there! Come over here!"

She halts, stumbling over her steps, but catches herself. She turns to the forest edge and sees a figure in its shadows, watching her. From the sound of the voice it sounded male and it motioned to her, with curved fingers that had very long nails and hair all over? _What is that? A_ _yoma? An awakened?_

She draws out her blade preparing to engage the figure. And the creature begins to chuckle. Pointing at her it laughs with a guttural type howl.

"That will do you little good in finding your friends, if I'm good and dead as it were."

"They're not my friends," Teresa sneers.

"Is that so?" the creature asks. "Well then, it doesn't matter that I give you the message from the young master I was to relay to the strong woman, now is there?"

"Where are they?"

"First, do I have your assurance you won't attack me if I make our little trek faster then by foot?"

"What are you talking about?" Teresa whispers, not sure what he speaks of.

The creature shrugs his shoulders. There was definitely something wrong with him. The mouth looked too long. Like a weasel's or dog's perhaps. She tries to focus on the details but the figure suddenly disappears in a cloud of pinkish smoke.

"What?"

A second later there is an explosion of gaseous smoke billowing from behind her. In shock she turns, swinging her blade. For a split second there is a creature, something with a definitive wolf snout. That snout disappears in another puff with a second puff behind her. She slashes quickly, but the blade goes through the pink mist and ten fingers jam into her stomach, not going through, but hitting with a striking precision causing a serious deal of discomfort and sending her backwards. She falls back on the floor, gripping her stomach and gritting her teeth.

_That was unexpected_, she thinks. _Maybe I need to up the ante some... _

The cloaked figure tears off his hood revealing a wolf's head and growls in a scream. "Enough of this! Are you truly so stuck up with your own thoughts that you go attacking anyone different then you?!"

"No," Teresa whispers as her eyes glow a shining gold. "Just monsters."

And with this she rushes him with her blade. He shuts his eyes, his tawny fur blowing in the soft wind of the morning.

"So is it that anyone who is different then you is sentenced to death?" he asks.

His words, how he spoke... Her memory takes her back to how Kaede spoke. "My tainted blood, I was cast out because of this." Weren't those the words he had spoken to her? And now this one... no, his words were too similar.

She halts her attack, stopping the blade a hair's breadth from the wolf man's throat. He opens his eyes slowly, staring at her with his own amber eyes.

"So, you will listen then?"

"I suppose, speak then."

The wolf clicks a talon on the claymore blade.

"The blade, Mam?"

Teresa smiles. "Let's just say I'm not so trusting yet."

"Fair enough."

He disappears in a cloud of smoke before her, and in a puff appears back at the forest edge where she had seen him originally. He motions to her to follow and disappears at a run into the forest. She sighs, turning back to her original destination. She still had a mission, something to do set by the organization. Nothing was ever easy.

And with this she leaps to forest edge and trails the wolf who appears as a shadow at the forest' brim, always at the corner of her vision. A shadow disappearing by the underbrush. _I hope I'm not letting myself be led into an ambush. Kaede, what is it you've brought me into?_

******

"Mother..." Kaede whispers.

Clare watches the young man with dark hair. He sits kneeling on the floor next to the river's edge where they had chosen to wait. He had said he had something for her and though he was a stranger, she trusted him. He had that familiar feeling, the same as her and Teresa. A loneliness that wanted to be dissipated. So when he had asked if she wished to follow him she had nodded her ascent.

He had picked her up and leapt up the hillside with barely an effort, dodging through wood and branch as easily as Teresa. With barely a sound, leaping from floor, to stone, to branch and back very quickly. When they had gotten to the river bank he had walked to it slowly, and gently put her down. He had then neared the water and leaning down, cupped the liquid in his hands.

She had watched, curious. What happened next shocked her. The liquid touching his hand began to glow a bright hue, glowing the same color as Kaede's sapphire eyes, and the water began to flow towards his hand as if being pulled by it. His palm began to glow, the glove becoming transparent, the flesh beneath glowing then shining in transparency allowing her to see the bone beneath. It shone with a great brilliance, glowing vibrantly. She watched entranced, then the coloration dulled and disappeared and Kaede splashed his face with the water.

His hand fell away slowly, the tears flowing down his cheeks, a soft whimper coming from his lips. She looked at him, her own heart pained. Somehow, that light, it was what brought him pain. She laid her hand on his shoulder not knowing what to do. He turned his face, trying with some difficulty to smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. They were full of sorrow and agony.

"Hail there, Young Master!" a deep voice calls from their left.

She turns to see who it is and is shocked to see a cloaked figure with an extended hand that ended in curved nails like talon, the hand itself covered in a thick matt of fur. And below the hood was a snout poking out, like a dog's. The figure's eyes glowed a bright amber, like a yoma's. Clare had hid behind Kaede, shaking violently.

He placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled down, genuinely this time.

"Don't fear," he'd whispered. "This is a friend of mine. Nordrak. He's from my home. A neighbor I once had."

"Neighbor you once had?" the wolf man named Nordrak scoffs. "Hmph. Is that how you see it now?"

Kaede turned toward him, his smile falling away. "Yes, I can never return. You know that Nordrak."

The man pulled away his hood, scratching the back of his head. The head had been that of a wolf. Brownish fur with bright amber eyes. She had shrieked at the sight of it. Both Nordrak and Kaede had turned to look at her for a moment, then the wolf man had began to laugh, a thick throaty sound. He had laughed for a time before wiping away the tears.

"Ah, it's been a good while since I've had a good chuckle like that." He had dawned his hood once more, shadowing his face, but it did nothing to conceal the amber eyes. "My countenance is not one well stood by strangers to the lycan. I suppose this is better for the little lass."

"Ah. Did you bring the package I requested?"

The wolf had nodded, and bending down had pulled off the pack on his back and placed it on the floor. "Your mother sends her regards, Young Master."

The wolf had opened the package and Kaede himself had bent down to examine the contents. Neither had paid Clare any mind, curiosity besting her fear she had looked over Kaede's shoulder to look into the contents. Most were fine looking clothes, some well too small for Kaede himself. She wondered for who they were?

But the thing that had interested him most was a cylinder type object that shone brightly against the sun. It had the shine of a claymore but was small with many fractures in it and there was a glowing light of a red color at its top. She wondered what it was. Kaede had stroked it fondly in his fingers, tears welling in his eyes again.

"That is from your mother," the wolf man had said. "Her final regards to you. It will play only twice, so be careful with it."

"Thank you Nordrak."

The wolf man had stood and bowed.

"My pleasure. So we will not see you again?"

Kaede had shaken his head. "No. The call of the desert and my family is too strong. I may never again return to Andromodea."

"I... see." The wolf had placed his palm on Kaede's shoulder. "Well. Best of luck to you lad. Farewell."

"Before you go," Kaede had asked. "Could you give the strong lady at the base of the hill a message for me?"

"Oh?"

"Just tell her where to find us. We'll be a bit longer here."

"As you wish then."

And with this he had leapt away, following the path they had used to come here originally. Kaede had paid the wolf no more mind, instead emptying the contents of the package. One was a second set of clothes, similar to the ones he currently wore, but different. They were softer in look and almost looked feminine. The others were the small clothes, three sets of them. These were definitely of a woman's wear. He had picked a white one out with a loose netting underneath and turned to her spreading the dress out.

"These are for you," he had said, smiling. "You need something better then what you have."

She had smiled and donned the clothes quickly. Kaede had to help as some parts were tricky to put on. But feeling the soft fabric, and how warm it was, it left her overjoyed. Kaede had smiled, looking genuinely pleased.

"Those were my mother's when she was of your age. I'm glad you like them."

"Thank you," she had said, smiling broadly, tears filling her own eyes. He had patted her on the head and pulled out the little cylinder.

"Now, are you interested in seeing what my mother is like?"

She had nodded, curious, but knowing also that it would not matter. He was going to check the cylinder for its contents regardless.

He had pressed the button that glowed red and something had come out from the cylinder, reflected on top of the water. It formed a shape, like a person. A woman of exceeding beauty and taller then any Clare had ever seen. She was taller then six feet in height, with a strong build like Teresa's. Her long features were partially obscured by the pink hair that came out over her eyes in bangs, her long hair flowing almost down the center of her back. She had lifted her face looking at Kaede with tender eyes.

"Kaede..." the image had whispered.

"Mother..." he whispered back. And the image had proceeded in giving him a message. She did not understand everything that was said, but understood that wherever he came from he couldn't go back. That glow she had seen, somehow, it kept him from going back. He had a home, but had lost it because of something... in him? She didn't understand. She only understood the tears he shed and the pain he felt.

His family, even though they were alive, were gone. He'd never see them again. She leaned against him, holding him. He held her now, and cried openly. She never even heard when Teresa approached. She simply appeared behind them, her voice hard, but softer then normal.

"So that's why you can't go back," she says from behind them. Kaede turns, wiping away his tears. "You're not from these parts are you?"

He is silent.

"Or from this world either, am I right? You can stop me if I'm wrong."

Kaede simply turns away. Looking towards the spot where the image of his mother had once stood.

"Well, I guess I see why you're so infatuated with me. I'm the closest thing you see to something like your mother."

He remains silent, something like anger in his eyes. Teresa turns away.

"Well, I don't want a momma's boy following me around. You stay here, with the girl. You seem to have taken her in after all. Well then, I'll be on my way."

"I'll still follow you, you know," Kaede whispers.

Teresa turns around, her countenance one of anger now.

"Look kid. I'm not your mom. And furthermore, I can't be this girl's mom. You can fool regular people that you're regular, but not me. I'm not taking responsibility for the two of you. I won't!"

"Then leave!" Kaede screams. Teresa steps back, taken aback by his statement.

"Leave then," he growls turning towards her. "If that's the only thing that matters to you, we'll find someone else. Another claymore."

"You can't be serious."

"They can't all be as hotheaded and selfish as you!"

"Selfish!?"

But Kaede doesn't respond further, instead turning back to the water. "Fine! So be it. Good luck to you Kaede. You'll need it."

Before Clare can reach for her Teresa leaps away, disappearing into the woods faster then she can follow. She turns, running towards Kaede.

"Kaede! Kaede!" she yells, screaming at him while tugging at his shirt.

"What?"

"Teresa! Teresa! We have to find her!"

"Why?" he growls, standing up and turning from her.

"Why?" she cries, tears welling in her eyes. "Why? She hurts like us! We have to help her!"

Kaede turns, glowering at Clare.

"Like us?" He is silent, considering his words as he considers her. She looks at him and turns away, stomping her feet and walking towards the path where Teresa disappeared.

"Fine! I'll find Teresa on my own!"

"Hey Kid!" She turns to look at him, tears still flowing from her face.

"Do you understand why I was turned away from the desert? From my home?"

"No. But it doesn't matter," she says, turning towards him. "I like you! And Teresa likes you!"

He smiles bitterly.

"Fine. Let me show you why I was cast away, then you tell me if it doesn't matter."

His hands begin to move in a blur. Clare stands with her little hands balled into fists. It didn't matter. Couldn't he see Teresa needed them too? Why wouldn't he listen?

It wasn't until his hands stopped moving that Clare noticed the water at the river's center bubbling. It bubbled violently, frothing over with explosions of liquid.

"Kaede!" Clare screams, pointing at the water. "A monster!"

"No, kid," he whispers staring at her with deep eyes. "That's not because of a monster. That's because of me."

"What?"

The water explodes into the sky, a long serpentine object tearing out of its flesh followed by a second, then a third and a fourth. The creatures roar, ripping away from the water and coming to wrap around Kaede, each one with a long lizard's snout and eyes glowing a heated white, their mouths seemingly filled with razor sharp teeth.

"Kaede?" she whispers, fear filling her trembling body. Her eyes bulge as the creatures near her, surrounding her.

"Kid, you're going to have to make a choice now. What you decide will determine where we go from here."

Clare stares at him with fear, her heart thudding violently.

"Kid," Kaede whispers, his form shrouded in darkness, the light of his eyes glowing that intense sapphire. "If you want to follow Teresa then you're going to have to become strong like she is. I can make you like this. Not now, but I'll make you strong like me. And when you're ready I'll give you something of what made me like I am and you can become strong like Teresa."

Clare shuts her mouth, looking at Kaede with fear, but longing too. He had pain in his eyes, and his voice wavered with every syllable. Tears welled in his eyes. He was scared too. So what is it he wanted?

"Kid, do you want to become strong like Teresa? Strong with me?"

She didn't understand. Not completely. But she knew what she wanted and who she wanted to be with. She grits her teeth, balling her hands into fists again. Shutting her eyes, she screams, "I want to be strong like Teresa!"

Kaede shuts his eyes. "Su.."

"And," she opens her eyes staring with stark determination at Kaede. "I want to become strong like Kaede too!"

Kaede stares with shock, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping. The serpent creatures that had previously formed fall away, splashing against the floor, losing their substance. Kaede stands in shock and amazement, staring at Clare as if he had never seen her before. She simply remained standing there, looking back at him over the distance of the ground, the water of the dragons draining back into the river. This is what she wanted. And she would not be dissuaded.


	6. Identity Disclosed 4 Against 1

Identity Disclosed - 4 against 1

As he leaps through the forest, following in Teresa's general direction he can not help but wonder what it is that the young girl had just told him. "I want to be as strong as you, too." This had made him uneasy and made him wonder about his value. For Kaede, to feel this sense of value to his being, beyond his mother, it felt strange. And this young girl, Clare, she thought the world of him. _Why? Why does she think so of me? I am nothing. I...._

A movement above him and he turns, bouncing off the tree and flipping over, using the sweat and water of his and Clare's system to maintain her on his back. The crunch of wood as the blade tears through the tree branch before him is so quick that the sound itself seems delayed. As he lands the sensation of another behind him brings him to focus. He ducks severely, dodging the blade so as to keep Clare from getting injured either. She awakens in distress, staring wide eyed as the women surround them. He presses his hand against her arm drawing her attention.

"Keep a tight hold of me and don't move," he whispers. "This is going to get violent."

"Release the girl, demon!" a young girl with short hair and very large eyes shouts. And she is dressed in white carrying one of the great swords like Teresa. His eyes narrow. _What is a claymore doing here?_

She rushes him with a speed unparalleled, and as she nears his eyes focus on the blood moving through her body he comes to realize something. _She's as strong as Teresa!_

He leans backwards dodging her blade's swing as she bring her blade across him, and Clare screams, the stress on her spine unusual to her for such movements. _She isn't used to this, but I have no choice if I wish to keep us alive!_

He shuts his eyes in his fall, calling the energies buried deep within him, the well of living energy flowing through him. As his blood awakens he presses his left hand against the floor and leaps forward, slamming his elbow into the woman's stomach, sending her flying backwards crashing against a tree with thunderous force. Leaning against the wood the woman rubs her sore back.

Kaede stares, preparing another attack when he feels the presence of another coming down towards him. He looks up and curses. _Another strong one! Bloody hell!_

He leaps away feeling a slash rip across his left thigh as the earth itself is torn asunder before him. The dust has not even cleared when the woman rushes from the smoke slashing with her sword. He uses the moisture in the air itself to form a surface beneath him and thrust with all his force back. As he feels himself leaping back there is another slash ripping across his right arm and one almost deep enough to rip across his abdomen. _Sheist!_

He slams into the tree as he is propelling backwards, his feet tearing through the wood and sap, grinding its flesh. As he turns preparing to leap to the side his senses bring the awareness of another two coming down to bring their blades upon him. Without any time to dodge right or left he leaps straight up in between the two women coming towards him. The movement is such that the women are caught unawares, not sure how to attack, and he slams both his heels down on the backs of their heads as rushes past them. They slam face first into the floor below with a thud.

Another movement in the sky above and he turns without thinking, slamming his foot into the flat end of a claymore. He stares for a moment into the eyes of the short haired one that had slammed into the tree. She reaches her hand out as if to grab at him, but moves past grabbing at Clare's arm. Clare screams and Kaede reciprocates. He pushes back and slams his free foot into the woman's face, crunching the soft cartilage of her nose. She falls to the floor with a yelp as he leaps back and lands on a tree branch.

He falls to his knees gasping for air.

"Kaede?" Clare asks worriedly.

"Can't ... can't breathe...." he whispers. He stares at the women on the floor, two rubbing the backs of their heads and the third, the short hair with big eyes gripping the bridge of her nose, staring back angrily through tears. Dressed in white all, with giant blades all. Claymores, all of them. Trying to kill him. But wait... where was the fourth? Those two weren't as strong as...

The energy screams behind him and he leaps back, unable to form a proper surface this time and slams against the floor. He turns in his fall taking the brunt of the damage so Clare may remain uninjured. She screams against his ear, but it is difficult to react properly, understand anything with her screaming and everyone attacking him. Why? Why where they attacking?

He stands on groggy legs, Clare still held by his powers around him, her cries lowering in pitch as he lifts himself from the floor. The second woman, the strong one, comes forward and stares at him. _The air about her, so much like Teresa but so much worse too. _

The woman was weaker then Teresa, but it was relative. With a long slender face, slanted eyes and incredibly long hair that glowed with an eerie whiteness Kaede could only stare with bitter resentment. What's more was her ears. Pointed and longer then a humans. _Not human at all then? An elf, but a claymore as well._

He chuckles bitterly.

"What do you laugh at?" the elf woman snarls.

He stops laughing, instead staring hard with his sapphire eyes.

"No wonder I'm having such trouble, if this team is being led by an elf as strong as Teresa herself. An elf." He shuts his eyes, and smiles bitterly. "Even in Andromodea your kind are rare. I would never have thought to meet an elf in this world."

The woman raises an eyebrow.

"An elf? What nonsense. We are claymores. That is all."

"Yes. You're claymores, but the other three are human. You're an elf."

"Your distractions will not prolong your existence. Hand over the girl and we will make your death quick."

"What are you talking about? Why are you trying to kill me?"

"Hmph. You already know why," and with this she rushes him. He leans back and then smiles. The woman's blade goes through his body, the form reacting. But the smile remains and the explosion is that of liquid. The elf lands back on the floor drenched in water.

"Priscilla!" the other two scream.

And the elf woman stares at Kaede in distress, her eyes wide with fear. He stands now, behind the woman with large eyes and bloody nose, holding her hair while pressing the edge of his blade against the her throat.

"Now, why are you trying to kill me!" he screams.

"You already know," the girl he holds snarls.

"Priscilla," the elf yells. "Be quiet!"

"You killed those humans," she whispers. "You ate one of them. You... you're a monster!"

"Is that it?" he asks. "I thought it was something serious."

"What?" the one named Priscilla barks.

"They were trying to kill me, I merely defended myself, and one of your own."

"So," the elf whispers in a severe tone, "Teresa knew of what you were and didn't stop you. Teresa has truly let herself fall from her path."

"Whatever."

"You killed humans!" the girl screams. "You're a murderer! A monster!"

"And you aren't?" Kaede growls. "Trying to kill me? Doesn't that make you a monster too?"

"You killed humans," she whispers. "And you're not human."

"Like hell I'm not!" he screams, yelling in her ear. "I'm just like you, human!"

"What?" the girl whispers, disbelieving.

"Don't listen to what he says," the elf growls. "He's merely trying to confuse you."

The girl stares with wide eyes shaking. He knows he doesn't have time to fool around, but these would not be convinced by words. Someone ordered them to kill him, and he needed to find out who. But Teresa needed to be found first.

He slams the back of his hand at the base of the girl's neck, taking consciousness from her. She falls back on him, her body hanging limp. The elf rushes him and he flips over the woman he holds while keeping hold of her shoulders and lifts her into the air, slamming her prone body down on top of the elf woman.

The other two rush him, but unsure how to react with him holding Clare they do not strike. He flashes his blade quickly across the shoulder of each. Light wounds, but deep enough to cause serious discomfort. They fall to the soft earth with a yelp each, dropping their blades.

"It's obvious none of you will listen to me," he says. "So here I will say adieu."

With these final words he leaps away into the branches of the trees.

"Kaede?" Clare whispers.

"I'm okay Clare, just winded." Severely winded. He didn't have any real energy to be moving anymore. It was adrenaline and fear that kept him moving. He needed to find a body of water, and luckily he'd kept them both near one. The river whose body thickened into a deep mass.

He swung out of the trees and leapt towards its center. Clare screams in his ear, gritting her teeth, and is shocked when there is no splash. There is barely a tap. Kaede gasps heavily, holding himself above the body of water, feeling it bubbling and frothing, starting to flow into him. He turns, hearing the crunching of wood and snapping of twigs.

The four claymore appear at its edge and stop, staring wide eyed. He was nearly at the center of the river's body but was not sinking. The girl he had held captive stares with the largest of eyes, her lips quivering.

"Not human," he hears her whisper. "He's not human."

"Hmph."

He stands up and turns away, heading on the path towards Teresa, running on the water's surface. He had avoided doing this originally because he wished to avoid detection, but now that his secret had been disclosed to this world's seeming police force who were already trying to take his life, it didn't seem to matter.

Besides, on the water's surface, running across it, he was quickly absorbing more energy from its life giving body. And at its center he was difficult to attack while he had an entire array of movement and techniques now at his disposal.

He growls inwardly. _After we find Teresa, I'm going to find who organized this hunt on my head and tear out their throat! I swear it! _

And his jaws open in a kind of hiss, his mouth already salivating in anticipation of the blood of his enemy.

******

Irene stares from the spot where the young man, or creature now ran across the water's surface. Priscilla just kept mouthing that he wasn't human, and Irene had to grit her teeth and keep her own tongue in check. _The girl should have realized that when my blade cut through his form and a body of water exploded. Stupid girl!_

"Enough!" she growls turning to everyone. "We knew he wasn't human when his shadow leapt past us in the trees, and further when he dodged every attack we threw. He may be using the child as a shield, but that will not stop us."

The three nod in unison.

"But what about Teresa?" Zelda ask. She was a newer claymore and not as experienced as the others. "He said he knew her."

Irene shuts her eyes. That part had been unsettling. That this creature seemed to be aware of Teresa and still standing. She had thought perhaps she hadn't run into the creature by chance, but that didn't seem to be so. Couldn't she see that he wasn't human?

"We must assume that Teresa is somehow corrupted. If you see her with the creature do not hesitate. Attack to kill."

They stare at her wide eyed, in shock.

"That is an order!" she snaps.

They nod, not fully accepting this, but agreeing. None knew where Teresa truly stood on this, but they had to assume the worse.

"Now, move out!"

All four split off into the trees in pursuit of the creature. And as Irene moved through the trees something more beyond Teresa bothered her. Even if the creature could split himself like that she should have been able to detect his yoki. But that was the problem. He had none. Which meant this was the most deadly adversary they had ever faced. One capable of battling claymores on one on one combat with cunning and skill and no form to be detected. A truly detestable thing. She wondered if they were truly up to the challenge of defeating such a creature. Only time would tell.


	7. Why He Fights

Why He Fights

The water splashes behind him as he runs across the surface of the lake. The air blows across his face, the spray of water hitting his face, absorbed by his pores. No longer tired, he moves with accelerating speed across the river's surface. But at the corner of his vision he can see the claymores chasing him alongside the river's banks. The elf in the lead followed by the other three. _Hmm... I have to lose them somehow._

"Clare?" he whispers.

"Yes?"

"Get ready to dive, we're going under the water for a bit."

She nods in approval, a smile across her lips. _Such a sweet child._

Turning back to his mission, he quickly forms the seals and as the form begins to ease out of his back, he lets himself fall forward. The form goes over him, splashing across the water's surface with a light explosion hiding their fall. A form made of pure water, but looking for all the world like he and Clare still running across the river surface. With a small pocket of air holding he and clare in place with oxygen, he watches as the form disappears above them. And watches as the four shadows gain on his current location and bypass them altogether. _They fell for it. Heh. Now we can seek out Teresa in peace._

Waving his hands around in a circular motion he forms a spiral of water sinking in on them opening a widening pocket of air above their heads. Clare gasp for breath, sucking in the now present air in its purity. As Kaede feels the water drain away from around his feet he ducks down and leaps out of the river and lands on the forest floor at the opposite edge. He releases his hold on the small tornado allowing the river to fill back in on itself, closing off their original location with barely a sound.

With this done he shuts his eyes, focusing on absorbing all the water on his body and on Clare and her clothes. She blinks her eyes rapidly, surprised at finding herself dry so quickly. Kaede smiles.

"I hope getting a little wet didn't bother you."

She shakes her head. "No. I trust Kaede."

"Heh. Let's go then."

He runs through the woods with increasing speed now, heading in the direction of Teresa's energy signature, allowing himself to focus solely on that steady pulse of blood.

Clare tightens her grip around his neck, burying her face into his neck. He looks at their surrounding watching as the trees and shrubs rush past them in a blur. He smiles, the child is simply not used to these types of sensations. It was alright. She'd become accustomed. Now, Teresa was the only thing that mattered. And without the elf or the others to distract him, he could focus on her alone. _Teresa, we're coming._

******

Priscilla runs across the bank's surface, gritting her teeth in anger. _He tricked me! He's not human at all! That monster, I won't let him get away with ..._

But in her anger she does not miss the oddity of the boy's step, how he suddenly seemed to slam his foot down and a great thrust of water blew into the air followed by more regular steps. Why did he do that? To distract them? But they could still see him clearly ahead of them. It was still him, he couldn't get away so easily as that.

She thinks on it no more, running forward towards their target. But as she concentrates on her target there comes a sound to her, like water running more forcibly then before. She hadn't thought about it before, but the sound didn't seem normal. She turns her head for a moment and sees a shadow leap out from the center of the river heading into the forest.

She grits her teeth, anger filling her vestige. _Damn him! Damn him! He did it again! Tricked us with a copy of himself, but I won't let him get away with it. Not this time._

She lets herself drop away from the main group, back tracking to the point where the shadow had disappeared. The water flows with barely a movement, still as if nothing had been there before. _But there was something there and I saw it._

She grips the hilt of her sword until her knuckles burn from the ache, then lightens her grip blowing a soft breath through her nostrils. He wouldn't get away. She takes one step towards the water then another, letting the water ride up to her boots and up her legs until she is forced to swim across. Once across dripping wet, on the surface of the land she turns to the spot where she had last seen Irene and the others. Their forms were gone, the yoki barely felt from this distance. She turns away heading into the forest.

There was another yoki she could feel, another claymore. Very distant from here, but felt none the less. Hadn't he said he was going after a claymore? Perhaps this was his route. The disturbed growth and foliage seemed to agree with her assessment. She nods and heads in the direction of the yoki. Where this yoki ended she'd find her prey. He wasn't getting away. Not again.

******

"I've completed the new assignment for exterminating the yoma in the mountain village, is there anything more you'd like me to do?" she asks of the man in the dark cloak. The man before her smiles darkly and begins to speak. His eyes were dark as was the whole of his body, and here they would meet in the shadows of the mountain edge where the desert began, stones jutting up towards the sky with their cold spires.

She grimaced. The organization she worked for, her leaders, the ones who had taken her life, raped her and forced her into bondage, placing this rotten flesh inside her body. She couldn't help but look at the man before her with disdain. He regarded her as a puppet, something to be thrown away at his leisure once her usefulness had been used up. She was nothing! But Kaede...

The boy had regarded her differently. He had looked at her with hope and desire. Wanting to be with her. Strange. In an odd way he seemed much like the girl that had decided to tag along with her. Both wanting someone to look up to. And they'd looked at her as that person. But they were gone now, she had left them far back. Hopefully the boy understood and would take care of the girl. He wasn't a threat. At least she didn't think so, even though he consorted with... odd creatures. That wolf man was still disconcerting, but Kaede had seemed sincere in his desires. Despite his claims she doubted he'd actually continue to follow. He'd lose her now. They both would.

She smiles bitterly. They had each other. Who did she have now?

"Teresa?" a voice ask.

She looks up, stunned. The man stares at her, a glower on his stern face.

"What?" she ask.

"I was saying, did you find anything on our competitor? The yoma creature?"

"Yoma?"

"Yes, it would seem that whatever murdered the bandits in the northern forest was a yoma or an awakened. Though I doubt it was an awakened, they would have eaten far more."

"Eaten far more what?"

"Human flesh. Haven't you been listening?"

"Sorry sir."

She grits her teeth. She saw who killed the bandits in the north, but did he actually take of their flesh? Was he in fact, a yoma? _Kaede, what are you?_

"What? Who are you?"

She looks up from her musings, looking at the surprised face of the elder. His eyes are bulging, his mouth dropping. This spot was a secret place, who could? She turns and smiles.

"Of course," she says. "It's you."

Kaede stands before her with the girl on his back, looking towards Teresa with that stern gaze he had when they first met. His dark eyes shining their bright sapphire, black hair blowing in the wind.

"Teresa," he says in a hard voice. "We've come for you."

She smiles, looking at the both of them. The girl seems to have an equally stern face and stares at her with a silent determination. Teresa shuts her eyes, sighing. _She's been absorbing some of his more charming traits I guess._

"Look Kaede, you know it can't work out between us."

He is silent for a time, his eyes softening, the corners of his mouth crinkling. He wasn't sure of this either.

"No!" the girl on his shoulder cries with tears streaming down her cheeks. "We came here for Teresa! We won't leave until you come with us!"

The boy smiles and nods. "You heard Clare. So what do you have to say... Teresa?"

He extends his hand towards her, palm extended.

"I swore I would serve you, so here I am."

Teresa stares, her eyes widening, her mouth parted in a silent "o." She is taken aback. He had been serious then. This boy, cared for her because of who he was, not what she was. She smiles and is about to respond when both hear a raucous laughter coming from the cloaked figure. The elder smiles, a dark grin full of gleaming teeth at the three of them.

"What a fool you are," he growls. "To fall in love with a claymore. Don't you know a union with the two of you could never last?"

Kaede shuts his eyes, smiling.

"So everyone says." His eyes open slowly. "Still, I won't stop until it's fulfillment."

"This is ridiculous!" the elder spits. "Turn away and leave! Stupid fool."

Kaede's smile falls away, his eyes narrowing to thin slits.

"You," he growls. "You think she's just a tool, don't you?"

"What else is she? We created her, we can do as we will with her."

Teresa turns towards the elder, an inner bitterness filling her heart. _So this is truly how they consider me? Why am I not surprised?_

"You're wrong!" Kaede screams. Teresa turns towards him, a thin line on her lips. "She's far more then that. She's a woman, a being who needs to be loved just like everyone else. Just because she's different doesn't change that."

"You're a fool," the elder growls. "She is ours and nothing you do can change that."

"Really?" Kaede whispers darkly, staring at them, no, the elder, with cold dark eyes shining a color like ice. "We'll see about that then."

He places Clare on the floor and whispers, "This may get violent. Stay out of this for the time being. I'll bring Teresa with us, I promise."

Clare smiles and swings her arms around Kaede, giving him a warm hug. Kaede for his own part, stares with wide eyes, shocked, but he places a hand on her shoulder and smiles before pulling away from her grip. When his gaze returns to the elder it freezes colder then before, a dark shadow playing across its features.

"And you," he growls, his thumb pushing against the hilt of his blade drawing the metal out. "People need to cast away their bonds of slavery, even at the cost of blood and life."

"You," the elder hisses. "You're the one who killed the humans in the northern woods aren't you?"

Kaede growls, his teeth bared, a full snarl coming from between them.

"You, you're the one who placed a hit on me, aren't you?"

The elder smiles, a sickly twist of his lips that does not reach his eyes.

"Of course. Our duty is to put monsters down who become uncomfortable for our being."

Kaede unsheathes his blade fully, a brutish growl issuing from his lips. The blade shines brilliantly reflecting the color of his eyes. _What should I do? I don't want to kill him_, she thinks. _But he may leave me no choice._

Teresa's hand moves towards her blade when another voice cuts through the still air.

"So you would openly attack humans?" a soft voice says. "That proves you truly are a monster."

Kaede moves his blade in an arc, turning towards the girl, for that was all she was. The girl brandished the claymore before her, staring at Kaede with narrow eyes. She knew him? How?

******

He stares with narrowed eyes. He had thought he had lost them, but apparently this ignorant girl was better then he'd given her credit for. He shuts his eyes, smiling. Opening them slowly, he lets his blood cool down. She is not the one he's angry at, that one would be the dark one in the black cloak. And with thoughts of him, Kaede finds himself growling again.

"Kid," he hisses. "You shouldn't be here. I spared you once. Don't make me kill you."

The girl, Priscilla, moves her sword in an arc staring with strong determination. Without sound she rushes towards him.

He bites down on his lower lip, drawing blood. Couldn't she see he didn't want to do this? He had no choice then.

He lifts both arms, taking a step forward and smiles. There was a presence below them. A cool flowing liquid of ever flowing life.

As the woman named Priscilla cuts the distance between the two, lifting her blade to land a killing blow Kaede forms the seals quickly that he would need. "Water. Earth. Fire. Wind. Water. Chaos. Order. Chaos. Chaos. Order. Earth. Fire. Wind. Earth. Water."

With the words whispered, channeling the flow properly, the energy popping in his knuckles, he slams an open palm feeling the wind of the blade coming down upon him.

"Kaede!" he hears Clare scream. _Sheist. I wasn't fast enough._

His eyes shut. The nearness of the blade was too much. He wouldn't be able to dodge it and his powers wouldn't prevent her attack this time. _I'm sorry Clare, _he thinks silently.

There is a crash and Kaede winces. Then opens his eyes slowly as he realizes, the blade is scraping against something.

He stares and looks on in astonishment, watching as Teresa holds the blade away from his face with her own.

"What are you doing?!" the cloaked figure screams. "This is treason Teresa!"

He stares at the man with a growl. The figure takes a notable step back, clutching the breast of his cloak.

"Kaede," Teresa yells from before him. "If you're going to do something, do it now!"

"Right."

He presses his palms together, shutting his eyes and he retakes hold of the energies that were welling up below the surface of the ground. He feels it and calls it forth. Stone tears and rips, grinding away at shelves as it tears to the surface. Kaede screams with a growing howl as he feels the surge of energy, the force of the water thundering to the surface. The energy is such that it sends his own adrenaline surging.

Teresa turns, surprised at the rumbling while Priscilla pulls her blade away and leaps back.

"What is this?" the girl whispers.

"Kaede?" Teresa questions when it happens. The water burst from its confines in several serpentine shapes that collate together above Kaede's head. The ends of water slam into one another forming into a mass, sliding down the length of that center one, absorbed into its body. The end bulges out, bumps and protrusions sprouting and other parts sinking in as a form is created. One still in a liquid shape. And the jaws of that form split open and let out a thunderous roar that echoes in the valley.

Priscilla stares dumbstruck with mouth agape, body shaking. Teresa stares with a mild trepidation of her own, looking up at the large beast that has formed above Kaede. He stands and stares at his enemy with narrowed eyes, the creature growling menacingly above him.

"This is what I am, who I am. Kaede of the nation of sand and..." He stares at his shaking palm and clenches it into a fist, lowering the pressure, the surge running through it. And in a quieter voice he continues.

"And water bender, hyrdrologist of my people. Of the cursed blood through me, still it I who can find purpose, find meaning in this life." He turns to Teresa when he says this. "I am he who will serve this maiden until my death so that I may see her smile."

Turning back towards Priscilla his voice lowers in tone, anger building within him. "And I am he who will protect this woman from those who would destroy her!"

And with these words the dragon above his head lets out another roar. Priscilla steps back, gritting her teeth. She holds her blade shaking before her, the dragon murmuring in agitation.

"If you're ready to die," Kaede says coldly, "then let's get started."

******

As night falls upon them Irene and the others note the targets begin to slow, the thickness of the lake becoming such that they can now follow directly behind the two. A kind of blurriness is now seen on both figures but she brushes it off as some new distraction their target is attempting. And Luanda seemed to be nearing the two quicker then the rest of them.

"Luanda," Irene cries. "Take the attack!"

"Right!"

Luanda leaps into the air, slashing down on the creature and as it turns Irene realizes their mistake. The boy and girl were dissolving. So when Luanda's blade rips through the body it comes as no surprise to her when the body pops with a splash of water falling to Luanda's sides.

"What?" Luanda questions, staring down at what used to be a girl and boy.

"We've been tricked," Irene snarls. "We have to turn back."

She turns around looking for the individual who must also feel a strong sense of anger at being so horribly deceived. And finds her not.

"Where's Priscilla?"

"I thought she was just behind us," Luanda replies.

Hilda nods in ascent.

Irene grits her teeth, steaming inwardly. _Damn it! Why didn't she tell the rest of us where the original headed off to? Now we have to find the both of them. Stupid child! _

"Luanda, track Priscilla's yoki. Hopefully we can make it in time before that child gets in over her head!"

Luanda nods and shuts her eyes trying to focus on the yoki of the young child. Irene growls silently. The child was new to her rank and abilities as a claymore. She just hoped the child was smart enough to not surpass her limits. _Please let that fool be smart enough to do that! _But Irene held no illusions in her heart. The child simply wasn't that intelligent.


	8. Union In Death

Union In Death

The floor rips open wide, stone flying into the sky as the water tears through the earth trying to snap at the leaping woman. Kaede waves his arms in different arcs trying to set the dragon with its open jaws to sink its teeth into the claymore's flesh, but Priscilla is proving more difficult then he expected. Every movement is dodged as if she fully expects its approach. She dances through the air as a phantasm, dashing in and out well out of range of the attack when the dragon would pummel the earth with its power.

He bites his lower lip, growling softly. _It's to be expected I guess_, he thinks. _After all, this woman is just barely below Teresa's power, and Teresa is well beyond my own. I really couldn't beat this kid on my own! Damn! I was so stupid to have let her live back then. But I... I didn't want to kill her. It's not right!_

He holds back the tears, feeling them welling up at the corner of his eyes.

"Are you remembering the lives you took?" he hears the girl yell as she leaps towards him. "Are you thinking about their families and what you did?"

He blocks her next attack with a hardening of the dragon's flesh before Priscilla then lashes out again. She leaps upwards before the creature even begins to turn down and stares into his eyes. He looks into her own eyes darkly and responds.

"No. They chose their fate. I'm just crying because I don't want to take your life. I don't want to kill you!" This last is said in a scream, while letting out tears that run down his eyes.

"What?" Priscilla gasp in shock, her movements slowing.

He grits his teeth trying to look through his tears. She slowed. That was all he needed. He motions his hand forward, the dragon blazing next to the girl with mouth agape.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

Its jaws close on her flesh sending her rocking through the stone spires lining the area until it crashes into one final rock, exploding with the collision.

"I'm sorry," he whispers again as he feels the dragon's jaws crush the woman's ribs, its jaws filling with her blood. He gasp, his eyes widening in shock as a block of energy slams into him. He looks up, staring at the rubble where the girl had been entombed. _No way!_

The girl's energies were building at an incredible level, trying to tear through the dragon's watery hide. _How..._

"Why didn't you tell me this was what you were hiding?" Teresa ask.

"Teresa, I don't think this is the time. That girl... something is wrong. Her power is building.."

"I know," Teresa interrupts. "It's part of our curse as claymores. She's just releasing more of her yoki."

Kaede turns his head, staring at her as if he'd never seen her before.

"What did you say?"

Teresa smiles. A smile that is as sad as the looks she regularly gives. One that refuses to reach her eyes where an eternal well of sadness dwells.

"I told you, it's part of the curse we have. As claymores half our blood is that of yoma. If we go too far we'll turn into yoma ourselves. That's what's happening to the girl. She's using more of her energy to release herself from your power."

"Now, does your own curse have similar effects?"

"No," he answers without turning from the struggling form beneath the dragon's jaws. "It's just a matter of how we use our powers. Every creature born in my realm has a power. I was just born with water manipulation in a place that has none. Water can't survive in a desert and I could not live elsewhere and not return to the desert to see my family. So you see, my blood is my curse, for it keeps me from them. If I were to return I would assuredly die. Though I can't. Not anymore."

"And the eating of people? That part of the curse too?"

Kaede chuckles. "No. That part is simply customary. How do you control and civilize different races living together? You give them rules all must follow. One of these is to eat those you kill. To return all to the earth that you gather from her and waste not. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to when I came here so I didn't give it two thoughts when I did it. I still don't regret it, only what it has caused."

"When we get out of this you're going to have to curb that appetite of yours."

A thin smile forms at his lips.

"Agreed."

The smile falls away as he feels the girl's power exploding.

"Damn it, I can't hold her!"

Teresa nods.

"I wouldn't think so. She has a power... that will eventually exceed my own."

"What?"

He turns as the energy rips through him, the dragon exploding in a shower of water with the stones around the girl shattering. Kaede stares with a trembling body, staring at the creature that gets up from the destruction. The girl seemed hideously deformed, her muscles bursting, her skin shrouded in a reptilian veil with sharp fangs lining her mouth.

"Oh Goddess! What is that thing?"

"That Kaede, is what happens when we begin to go over our boundaries. We turn into monsters."

He bites his lower lip once more, drawing blood and trying to control his fear. Emotions run rampant through his system. He flexes his fingers, spreading his arms and draws the liquid back together to form the dragon.

"Murderer!" the girl yells in a husky, reptilian voice and leaps at him, moving twice the speed she had originally.

"I'll kill you!"

As the blade comes towards him Teresa's form comes before him and he hears as the girl's blade is pushed aside, the force of the blow digging Teresa's heels into the floor. The girl raises herself slowly, drool dripping from her slathering jaws.

"Why?" she growls. "Why do you protect him?! He murdered humans!"

Teresa chuckles, holding her blade before her.

"Why? Because life isn't so simple," and she glances at Kaede. "For either of us."

She turns away from him, turning her attentions back to the creature which was Priscilla.

"Now fall back. You're obviously new at this so you may not know your limits yet. At 10% our eyes change color. At 30% our bodies begin to degenerate. And at 80% we awaken and turn into yoma ourselves. By the state you're in I'd estimate you're over 70%. If you don't change back now there will be no turning back."

"Murderer," Priscilla growls. "Murderer!"

She cries a bestial scream, lashing her blade out at Teresa which is easily blocked, but her arm suddenly twist around her body, the sword coming back towards Teresa.

"Teresa!" Kaede screams.

Blood splatters the side of his cheek, the girl's blade hitting the floor next to him and drawing back. He touches the blood against his cheek, pulling his hand back, staring at it.

"Don't let the blood scare you," Teresa says. "I'm still here. I guess I'll just have to take this girl more seriously."

Kaede watches, staring at the energy that builds within Teresa's own form. It is like a valve suddenly opening letting a mass of energy flow through. _Wow. She's so powerful. More then I thought._ _I never saw it before. _

The girl shrieks, letting out an ear piercing scream and lunges at Teresa. Teresa of her own accord, tenses and takes the attack. Each movement the girl makes is countered by Teresa's own. A blur of movement and energy. But as he watches Kaede is slowly able to make out the flows, the blood moving through the bodies of both, and follow the movement. With this in mind, he forms the next seals, drawing the water back to his location and letting the mass linger around Teresa.

"What are you..." she asks, blocking the next attack as suddenly the water on the floor erupts around her following her movement. With Priscilla momentarily knocked back a split second to take the brunt of the counter she is left open and this is the movement Kaede follows. The water splits into several bladed spikes around Teresa, following the movement of her arm, by her legs and over shoulders, beneath her arm and over and around the sides of her neck. Blades of water striking as quickly as her own attack and skewering the girl through several organs and points in her body, slamming her against the stone floor below.

The blades of water pull away coming back around Teresa and merging into one solid form again. The dragon forms above Teresa's head, its mouth splitting once more as it lets out a great roar. Kaede steps around her walking towards the girl partially turned monster. He looks down on her seeing all the wounds riddling her body. Blood seeps thickly, wetting the floor about her in its brilliant color. He shuts his eyes feeling the tears brimming within.

"I'm so sorry," he whispers. "I didn't want this to happen."

"Why?" he hears her asks through a voice choked with tears. "Why did you kill pappa? I loved him so much. Why did you have to take him away!"

"What?"

"No, Kaede! Look out!"

He barely has a chance to understand what is happening, the level of energy in the girl's body seeming to explode when he feels someone, Teresa he thinks, grabbing his shirt and tossing him to the side. That is the last thing he sees before he hears the flash of the blade, the shunkt of flesh as meat and bone are separated. And Teresa's head flies from her shoulders and lands before him between his legs, her shocked eyes looking into his own.

"Te- Teresa?"

Her body falls with a thud, a small puff of smoke beneath her, no, beneath it. It no longer held Teresa's energy or her life, her breath. She was dead.

"Teresa?" he asks, his hand shaking as it moves towards her.

"No. Please, no. Not like this. Not for me. Why? Why?"

But she does not respond, her eyes losing the color of life quickly. He shudders, his shoulders shaking as the realization begins to dawn on him. She is dead and she is gone. He grits his teeth, the tears flowing down his face as he holds her cooling cheeks. Pressing the severed head against his stomach he turns towards the heavens and lets out a howl of agony. This one is echoed by a second that is incredibly near.

He cuts his scream off, turning with angry eyes to look at Priscilla. Her energies sky rocket, her form losing its original shape as bone and muscle rearrange. Flesh tears and bones snap, crunching in sickening ways. But Kaede only watches with a seething rage.

"How?" he growls. "How could I possibly have felt sorry for you? You... you're nothing but a monster!"

As the woman's energies slow and stabilize Kaede summons the dragon once more, materializing it and solidifying it in the middle of the attack. The dragon roars and slams into the once Priscilla beast, tearing into her stomach and suddenly burst.

Kaede is shocked and more so, when he suddenly feels a burning sensation around his stomach. He hadn't even heard the wrenching sound of meat and bone when it happened, but his hands come up covered in blood. When he reaches down to feel his stomach where something felt off, his hand slides through, grasping only air. The pain is unbearable, but still he stands, and stares at the creature who licks her lips of the blood. His blood.

The creature, now taller then him with silver hair and bright amber eyes, turns towards him. Her face, no longer that of a child, but that of a sensuous woman with purple skin, her ears pointed and her body long and slender with four great wings sprouting from her back.

"That tasted different," she says in a strongly alluring voice, so very different from the voice she had before. "But wonderful. I want more. I want the taste of blood and viscera in my bowels. Feel it deep inside until I burst."

Kaede grits his teeth feeling the nausea from his wound. His kind would not die from this, supposedly. But he was going to pass out. He couldn't stand for much longer and his vision was beginning to blur horribly. _No_, he thinks. _I'm going to die. I can't survive like this, there's no one to give me medical aid. Clare. I have to protect Clare! Can't let this thing kill her too!_

And he roars with the last of his strength, thrusting his fist forward with the dragon forming once more in mid attack, rushing at the demon. As it is about to hit she suddenly disappears from its line of attack and appears before him. His eyes widen in shock, her form barely visible except for the gold in her eyes.

"I'm surprised you still live," she whispers.

And the form rushes him. He feels as his skull and spine are separated, her hot fetid breath on his face as teeth crush down and shatter his skull spilling his cranial fluids into her throat.

When his eyes open he is standing, staring at the woman clearly. Her red lips soaked in his brilliantly colored blood. He stares with blinking eyes at her own amber eyes, her tongue running over the length of her upper lip, licking the last remnants of his blood away.

"Mmmm... that was delicious. I wish there was more."

He stares, his body trembling. _What? What is she? I... I.._

And then he hears the thud before him. He looks down and stares, his eyes growing wide. At his feet is the body of someone who looks vaguely similar to him. The same blue clothes and armored boots, but without a stomach and without any shoulders or head. _What? Am I... am I dead?_

"I want more," he hears that same dark voice whisper. "More. Enough to drown my face in. Yes, enough to cover my head in those warm entrails."

He looks up, staring at those eyes full of malice. _No. I'm not dead. That's someone else_ _on the floor. Someone else she killed. And now she's going to kill me! I can't move! Why can't I..._

And the creature passes through him, still murmuring silently to herself. Kaede stares at the empty space before him, hearing the tread of the creature as she walks away from him. He lets himself calm looking down at his palms. They were still clothed in the dark gauntlets he had brought with him to this realm, but they were no longer covered red with his blood. And he had remembered that, the feel of his blood. The sudden pain where his stomach had been. He stares, the realization dawning on him. _I am dead._

"Kaede?" a familiar voice ask.

He turns his head and stares into the questioning eyes of Teresa. He smiles, his tears brimming with joy and runs towards her, wrapping his arms around her.

"Teresa!" he cries.

But her response is colder then he had expected.

"I'm dead, aren't I?"

He looks up at her, her vacant expression as she deals with the realization herself. He pulls away from her realizing it to be true as well. He stares down at his own shaking palm, remembering holding her head against his stomach. The pain still felt too new and the tears well up in his eyes.

"I saw when you died, Kaede" she whispers.

He turns towards her, staring. She still stared out as if not looking at anything in particular.

"I heard and saw my body fall but it didn't register then. Even when you were holding my head. I couldn't believe it. And I saw her change and prepared to fight her and... and my attack went through. I heard your body crunch as she bit a chunk out of your stomach, was terrified when you were still standing. And shocked when you tried to attack again and yelled something about Clare.

"Did I yell for Clare?"

She turns towards him, her own eyes brimming with tears.

"We failed Kaede. We can't protect her. She's going to die!"

He turns towards the monster watching as she walks towards the terrified Clare's position and can only stand helplessly as the creature nears her. Kaede grits his teeth, his eyes filling with tears.

"Clare... no...."

******

She sits horrified next to the stone wall, unable to move. The creature that had been the girl chasing them killed Teresa! Took her head when she pushed Kaede aside and when Kaede had attacked the creature he'd lost part of his stomach. He'd still stood, like some undead beast, and tried to attack again. This time losing his head in the process. _She ate him! She ate Kaede!_

The creature now walks towards Clare, still murmuring about its desire for blood and carnage. She can only sit, trembling, unable to do anything. Unable to save anyone. She hadn't been able to help Teresa and she hadn't been able to save Kaede either. She was so weak! Not like either of them. And so scared. She didn't want to die! Didn't want to die!

And the creature walks past her, murmuring its hollow words, spreading its wings and taking off. Clare does not look back. Does not care. She hated herself. She was so weak. She couldn't even stand up to the thing that took two people she cared about!

She walks over to Kaede's body, Teresa's head at his left. He hadn't moved from the spot where her head had fallen. They were together in some ghastly union of blood and gore. She kneels down, stretching her hand towards them.

"Kaede? Teresa?"

And she lets her hand fall away, the tears flowing down her face. Those like her were dead. Her family was dead. She lets the tears fall, sniffling and sucking the air in, unable to howl violently as she would wish. She can do little and feels little but the pain of loss in her. She stretches her hand out to Teresa's head once more, feeling the gore of Kaede's insides against her hair, and picks her head up.

Standing on shaking legs she begins walking forward. Not thinking and not looking. Not thinking about anything, just pain and loss that rockets through her being. Nothing more.

******

"That poor girl," Teresa whispers. "She's alone now."

"Yes, I..." Kaede begins when another voice, one of a soft feminine quality speaks from behind him.

"Kaede, you can return home now."

He and Teresa turn their heads and look into the sapphire eyes of a white dragon who stares at them both. She spreads her wings and shuts them softly, her neck stretching towards Kaede.

"Kaede," she whispers. "You can return home now."

"Andromodea," he whispers, wiping tears from his eyes. He laughs and shakes his head sadly.

"No. I am home."

With this he turns his back on the dragoness and returns to Teresa's side, taking hold of her hand. She smiles, squeezing his own in return. The dragoness pulls back, smiling softly.

"Very well then. As you wish, Kaede. Enjoy your new home."

And the goddess watches as the smiling Kaede walks down the stony path, hand in hand with the claymore, Teresa. Her eyes narrow, her thoughts swirling inside her. _Much has changed since this realm was reorganized. This was not what happened before. More are alive, but this changes things._

She turns her long neck, seeing the girl who carries the severed head of Teresa and the gore of Kaede against her chest. _Much has changed and yet some things are the same. I suppose I can grant you one last blessing as your goddess._

Her eyes glow, burning with an intense energy, and the gore on Teresa's hair moves towards her cheek, and dissolves into its flesh, absorbed inside. Flesh and organ merge into one, to make one unit. The dragoness shuts her eyes and smiles softly_. Now your blood is bound, and when that girl takes the flesh into her own body she shall have the blood and flesh of both her parents. Not just one. This is my gift to you, to make that child truly your own. Farewell Kaede Yukimura. Farewell Teresa of the faint smile. Farewell Clare..._

With these final thoughts the dragons folds her wings upon herself disappearing in a flash of light, leaving the girl carrying the blood and flesh of both her foster parents and leaving Kaede with a woman he adores. She returns then to her own world. To her own home.


	9. Epilogue Fourteen Years Later

Epilogue - 14 years later

She sat silently in the woods staring at the palm of her hand going back over memories, memories of her past and what it had come to lead to. For Clare of the organization, battle had become everything. But even in the beginning when the claymore Irene had found her and Clare had demanded that Teresa's flesh be placed into her had it become an oddity.

Instead of simply becoming a claymore her body changed all over. Her eyes did not go silver nor her hair. Instead her hair remained the color it was and her eyes changed to a cool blue resembling the color of ice. The organization had considered her a failure, at first.

Her first years were difficult. Adjusting to an odd way of seeing where she could see energy flowing in objects. At first the organization told her it was that she was sensing yoki, but that couldn't be it. She sensed it in humans, in plants and trees, even the old pipes in the building. It wasn't until later that she realized she was seeing the flow of water.

This had not been the only adjustment. Though she could go without much food she still had to eat at least once daily. And she had to rest every two days or daily if the days grew too warm. The ground itself would flow with a kind of energy, a strangeness to it. She was ranked number 47 at first, a failure. Worse then a failure for she had none of the true qualities distinguishing a claymore, and for some reason she was growing quickly, to quick they soon found out. By her full term as a woman she had grown to the height of 6'2. And not only had her height increased, but her strength, her hearing, her sight, speed and even sense of smell. She could now tell the difference between a claymore and human by smell alone. And the yoma were even stronger in that sense.

Soon even this became eclipsed itself. She smiles now thinking on this and dips her hand into the cool water of the lake. An energy flows from Clare's body cooling the liquid and then calling it up. The creature forms quickly, exploding from its watery depths and surfacing to stare at Clare. A creature of serpentine proportions with large jaws and cool blue eyes, its surface reflecting the light of the sun, each movement crunching as it slides against itself.

She smiles softly looking at the creature. Clare, now ranked number 9 had inherited her father's curse, his gift. The control over the element of water, but in an ice like state. For which she was now called "Frost Eye Clare." The claymore with eyes of ice.

And she was no longer alone. She turns to the boy who sits against a tree watching her, and she smiles softly. She'd found him when she had been covering the work of some deceased claymore. His name was Raki, and he was like her.

"Good morning Raki. Did you sleep well?"

He nods, his eyes shining with joy.

"Good. Then we should head out."

She smiles and looks towards the rising sun. Soon. Soon she would be strong enough to face the monster who took away two of those she cared for. Soon she would be able to fight the abyssal herself, Priscilla. And win.

******

Out in the deserts a sparkle of light and fire erupts from the center of the air over a sand dune, tearing gashes into it. The sparking becomes stronger, fires lashing out and striking at the flesh of the dune as a hole widens in the atmosphere, a swirling aura growing wider. From it step two figures, one a tall woman in red armor with long pink hair carrying a spear on her back. The other, a young man with scruffy dark hair dressed in black and blue garments, a hood over his head. With cape blowing he looks over the landscape with soft hazel eyes.

"So," the woman whispers. "Are you ready? They've given the go ahead now."

"Yes," the man whispers back pulling out a small device and pressing a few buttons on the controls. Out from it is reflected the three dimensional image of the bust of a woman with long brown hair and cool ice blue eyes. The young man smiles, his eyes filling with tears.

"Yes, Sayuri. It's time to go find my aunt. It's time we find Clare."


End file.
